Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I just had to share. We had some snow last weekend and my girls had a blast playing in it. Good, wet, sticky snow that we only get in the Spring.
Anyway, my 10-year-old daughter made this for me. It's about 3 feet tall. She called me out to "COME SEE WHAT I MADE FOR YOU, MOM!!"
Fortunately, she made him in the shade of a pine tree, so he's still out there!

Good golly! The things you ladies talk about! It's been a while since I popped in to see what's going on.
   

Well first, I can lick my nose and turn my tongue upside-down too.

Now, my favorite animal is the Hummingbird. Tiny birds only about 2 inches long. They migrate through Colorado the end of summer, back down to Arizona for the winter. We camp a lot in the mountains and bring a feeder to hang outside. I get loads of pics of them. They literally fight over the nectar. They are so small and quick, they wizz by your head like giant bugs! They are fearless little things, I think they know we'd never be able to catch them.
Here's a pic I took last summer, there are 8 of them in this pic, though a few more were buzzing around too.
Of course, no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to catch the beautiful metallic colors of their feathers. I stand very close to the feeder and REALLY STILL for about 20 minutes to get nice pics like these. For every 10-15 pics I take, I might get 1 that you can see. They are so fast, they are usually just a blurr.

OK, couldn't get Cloe to load. Let's try again. . . .

As a matter of fact, I got Mom addicted to thread bears too!
Here's a few she's made.
She made Cloe for me!

I crochet too. I prefer baby alpaca yarn, very fuzzy! Here's a couple I made and sold on ebay a while back.

OH MY GOSH!! I just love my little Antonio!
I'M THE LUCKY ONE! HE'S A PERFECT LITTLE BEAR!
I'm so glad you took pics of them together, it's so appropriate. I'll print 1 off for my album. The piggy-back pic is especially adorable.
THANKS SO MUCH KIM!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey ladies, I've been working my tail off all week getting several colors of this Frosted Long Pile done. I should have it on my site this weekend.
I promised to give you all the heads-up.

Other good news! We are moving!!! We have a contract on a great big house that will give me my own office and tons of room for my studio/shop. Now, we just have to sell the one we are in now. So much work to do and I'm not looking forward to the move, but I can't wait to get all that space!!
:dance:  :dance:  :dance:

WOW! I'm impressed!!   
It is absolutely perfect in every way. I LOVE the rings on the tail!!!

Here are the last 2 bear patterns I've been working on. It's a good thing these are done, I have more important stuff to work on now!!

Jared,
Yes, lots of cat eyes, but I'm not sure if they have this button-type in cat eyes. I'll check.

I call it extra-long pile cashmere. 1/4" pile and very dense with the tiny knit back that doesn't fray, but it does stretch (thank goodness I finally found the Magic Fabric Fixer!). Looks like this color is Light Brown, it's really more the color of cocoa. Tabitha's pic shows the color accurately, better than my site does. 

Kim, gorgeous as usual! I don't even need to comment on your bears!!!!
I love them all, as does everyone else!

Amanda, I never would have thought to make a pink koala, but she is truely beautiful!! Perfect little face! 

And Chris, that's what tweezers are for!!

I agree, it's been pretty quiet here in the mini section!
I've been working on several new patterns (for sale). Here are 3 that I finally got done! Still have 2 more in the works, then I'm taking a break from patterns for a while. There are too many bears in my head wanting to be made just for fun!!

I collect dragons, green depression glass and have the entire collection of the Ty Bitty Beany Babies given with McDonalds Happy Meals. Of course, I'm also working on a small collection of artist bears, minis so I have lots of room left for those!
   

I've bought a lot of synthetics (for bigger bears) here:
http://www.imstuffedfur.com
She has a lot of good quality stuff. They have the knitted back, but all the ones I've bought had almost no stretch. She also gets so much stuff in that she doesn't get it all on her site. If you don't see it on her site, tell her what you are looking for, she'll go through everything she has to find it. Be patient. Good service and pretty decent prices too.

Please welcome Hopper, he stands right at 8" tall, THAT'S A BIG ONE FOR ME!!
He is a gift for my daughter, she just turned 8. I had to work on him late at night so she wouldn't see him and hide him every night. I got him done just in time!!!
   

I just bought dozens of sheets of paper from the Scrapbooking section of my local craft shop. There was hand-made paper, watercolors, scenic designs, etc. I don't need huge pieces for mins. I just clip them to my 'backdrop' (a piece of heavy cardboard) and viola! interchangable backgrounds just like the real photo studios!

Very nice site. The English pages are perfect. Looks like you translated everything just right. I didn't see any obvious goofs. Very easy to navigate.

Sharpie is a permanent marker and comes in all colors and tip styles. I have dozens of them, all different colors!

Take a look here:  http://www.allartsupplies.com/article.php?sectionId=41

Ooooo, great idea. How about a simple 'classified ads' page for supplies only. "I have this, will trade for that", etc. with the link to email them. That keeps the actual deal off the board. Anyone wanting to swap will have to agree to not hold anyone else liable. It is purely between the 2 'swappers'.

A newspaper lists all that stuff, but no one holds them responsible if the deal goes sour.
All we really need is a posting board with someone to review it occasionally and make sure nothing wierd is going on. I can't imagine making someone responsible for mediating a bad deal, you don't get that when you go through the newspaper. If someone starts swapping garbage, then they won't be swapping long, word will surely get out about it. Maybe an easy grading system can be assigned to each 'listing' (on a scale of 1-5 how satisfied were you with this swap?)

Values are kinda hard to work with. If you had something I really wanted and I was willing to trade something much more valuable for it, that's my decision. It's not that valuable to me if I don't want it.

What Kim & Shelli said.
I did check and was told that since I have registered with the State of Colorado (needed my business & sales tax license) and it is registered as my domain name, that could be used as proof that I own it. If anyone else ever wanted to use my name (not likely) I would have proof that I have been using it since XX date. I probably couldn't fend off a huge lawsuit but it should deter anyone else from using it.

Just try to pick something different & original and you shouldn't have any problems.

On my site. I got several sizes in 9 colors plus some really big ones in clear to paint yourself.
Here's a pic.

Hi Tami!
Yeah, another bear artist from Colorado!  :hug:
I always use nylon. I do minis, so always hand sew, but I have used nylon upholstery thread in my machine for other projects. You just need to get some new needles for it, they have a bigger hole for the thicker thread.

WONDERFUL, EXCELLENT BEARS!!
I don't care for dressed bears and prefer the color, texture and design in the actual fur instead. These are all perfect examples of the style I love!!
Yes, definately 'eye candy'!